World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseMerchant freighter Kurmark was laid down in Hamburg, Germany in 1930. During the 1930s, she was operated by the Hamburg-Amerika-Linie.

ww2dbaseIn 1939, when the European War began, Kurmark was among the first to be acquired by the German Navy for military service. She was commissioned into service as the auxiliary cruiser Orion in Dec 1939. On 6 Apr 1940, she departed Germany under the guise of Dutch ship Beemsterdijk, under the command of Korvettenkapitän Kurt Weyher on her first raiding mission. Her guide became the Russian ship Soviet once she entered the Atlantic Ocean. In the Atlantic, she intercepted and sank British ship Haxby. In May 1940, now as Greek ship Rocos, she rounded Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, entering the Pacific Ocean. In Jun 1940, she entered into territorial waters of New Zealand and proceeded to lay mines off Auckland during the night of 13 to 14 Jun; these mines would later sink or damage four ships. Between Jun and Oct 1940, she captured one ship (Norwegian ship Tropic Sea carrying wheat; Tropic Sea would later be captured by British submarine Truant on her journey to Germany) and sank three other ships in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. On 20 Oct 1940, she made rendezvous with another raider, Komet, and was replenished by the supply ship Kulmerland. In late 1940, Komet and Orion together sank 7 ships. In early 1941, German naval attaché in Japan Vice Admiral Paul Wenneker purchased an E8N float plane from Japan; the aircraft was brought by German ship Munsterland to Orion at Maug Island in the Mariana Islands on 1 Feb 1941. Orion became the only German ship in WW2 to operate a Japanese-built float plane; the E8N joined the Ar 196 floatplane that was already used by Orion. Between Feb and Jun 1940, she operated in the Indian Ocean but failed to produce any sinkings. In Jul 1941, en route back to Germany, she captured the ship Chaucer in the South Atlantic. On 15 Aug, she entered Spanish territorial waters and disguised herself as the Spanish ship Contramestre Casado. She was soon escorted by German submarines and aircraft on the final leg of her trip home. She arrived in Gironde, Bordeaux, France on 23 Aug 1941. This 510-day 235,828-kilometer voyage would prove to be Orion's only war time mission. She sank 10 ships totaling 62,915 tons on her own, and claimed a further 2 sinkings totaling 21,125 tons together with Komet.

ww2dbaseIn 1944, Orion was renamed Hektor and served as an artillery training ship. In Jan 1945, she was renamed to Orion once again and was used to evacuate refugees from East Prussia to northern Germany and Denmark. On 4 May 1945, en route to Copenhagen, Denmark, she was hit by bombs off Swinemünde (now Swinoujscie, Poland) and sank, killing all but 150 of her over 4,000 passengers.

ww2dbaseOrion was scrapped in 1952.

Photographs

Orion Operational Timeline